CBD Could Help Boost The Effectiveness Of Pancreatic Cancer Treatments

A study out of the Queen Mary University of London found that combining the cannabis derived compound CBD with pancreatic cancer treatment drastically improved its effectiveness.

For the study the researchers split a group of mice genetically modified to develop pancreatic cancer into four groups. Ten Mice were given CBD, eight were given the chemotherapy drug gemcitabine, seven were given both drugs, and nine were given a placebo.

Mice that received the placebo survived an average of 19 days, while those on CBD only lived for 25 day, and those on gemcitabine alone lasted for almost 28 days.

Mice given the combination of the two drugs had a survival time of almost 53 days.

The researchers showed that a gene known as GPR55 is involved in the growth and multiplication of pancreatic cancer cells as it gives rise to proteins that sit in cell membranes. The team says that the promising results were because the CBD blocks the receptors produced by the GPR55 gene, preventing them from interacting with other substances that promote the growth and multiplication of cancer cells.

The study is very promising, however others cautioned that it was only a small study in mice, and it is unclear if the results can be duplicated in humans. Many more years of tests will be needed before this could be a possible treatment for pancreatic cancer patients.

A survey conducted by The Lambert Initiative for Cannabinoid Therapeutics at the University of Sydney found that 61.5 percent of General Practitioners reported one or more patients had asked about medical cannabis in the past three months.

When pets get ill or experience anxiety, most owners would do anything to fix the situation. So it’s not surprising many pet owners have tried giving medical cannabis to their pets. Now veterinarians are starting to follow suit. As more research develops in support of using medical cannabis for pets, veterinarians like Dr. Robert Klostermann have begun giving the cannabis compound cannabidiol, CBD, to their pets.

It is a well documented fact that cannabis use often triggers an appetite for those consuming it. However, until a new study out of Washington State University, very little was known about how or why it does.

B.C. Cancer will lead a first-ever national clinical trial to determine whether cannabis plant extracts truly help with symptom relief. The trial will examine how cannabis properties affect and possibly reduce cancer-related symptoms including pain, sleep disturbance, anxiety and nausea.

Depression is something that many people deal with and struggle to treat. But as mental health awareness becomes more and more prominent, people have begun to test and share different ways to cope with the illness that can be crippling at times.

Speaking at Digestive Disease Week in Washington, two doctors, one from Toronto’s Mount Sinai hospital, and the other from Meir General hospital in Israel, gave separate presentations on cannabis treatments for inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) and ulcerative colitis (UC).

Chronic pain is the most common reason consumers give when enrolling in state-approved medical cannabis programs, according to an analysis of 15 states published by the Journal of Health Affairs on Monday.

Anxiety is an issue that many North American adults experience and can have crippling consequences in extreme cases. There are many pharmaceutically prescribed drugs out there that aim to address the issue such as Xanax and valium, but most, if not all, can come with brutal side effects.

Massachusetts-based wellness center Lyme Awareness has added medical cannabis to its list of treatments to help patients with Lyme disease. Although it will not cure the disease, cannabis can be used to aid in symptom management mainly because of its anti-inflammatory properties.

Interim director of the MSU Center for Research on Ingredient Safety Norbert Kaminski, has begun a yearlong preclinical study exploring cannabis compounds and their ability to slow the progress of Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s and other brain diseases.

A new partnership between Auckland University of Technology (AUT) and PharmaCann New Zealand Ltd. aims to increase scientific understanding of the ways in which cannabis and cannabis derivatives can benefit health.

After recreational cannabis became legal in Canada last October, concerns began to rise about the impact on the health of young people in particular. Experts claim a new set of guidelines published by the American Journal of Public Health may help lower the risk.

At an hour-long special presentation, New Jersey State Health Commissioner Shereef Elnahal stated it was his goal to “demystify” medical marijuana because of the work it is doing for thousands of patients.

A new study that has been published in the Medicines journal titled “Effectiveness of Raw, Natural Medical Cannabis Flower for Treating Insomnia Under Naturalistic Conditions,” found that medical cannabis flower can significantly improve perceived insomnia.

A new study from a team at the University of New Mexico went through 13,638 user rated cannabis sessions and their effects from 2,830 patients. The results, published in the journal Frontiers in Pharmacology found that patients find relief from a massive amount of symptoms when using medical marijuana.

The NHL Alumni Association has signed a landmark agreement with Canopy Growth Corp. that will see the Canadian cannabis company finance one or more studies that could be important steps toward establishing the first comprehensive snapshot of the health of retired hockey players.

Ontario-based Tetra Bio-Pharma Inc., a Canadian licensed producer, and Panag Pharma Inc. have announced they are coming together to develop a drug to treat animals. The two companies recently announced they have submitted an application to the Veterinary Drugs Directorate at Health Canada for a study to examine the use of a cannabis-based drug to treat ocular pain and inflammation in canines.

The Beeches Consulting Centre in Manchester, United Kingdom, has welcomed the first specialist medical cannabis clinic. Led by Dr. David McDowell, an independent pain specialist and consultant neurologist Professor Mike Barnes will serve as Clinical Director.

Researchers at Washington State University have observed the effects of cannabis on the offspring of rats who were given marijuana while pregnant. The study is among one of the few that is looking at the issue of cannabis use while pregnant, despite it being the most commonly used illicit substance among pregnant women.

Scythian Biosciences Corp. and its partners at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine announced the results of a pre-clinical study evaluating the safety and efficacy of a cannabis derived combination therapy in treating mild to moderate traumatic brain injury (TBI) in rodents.

New research out of the UK suggests a single dose of CBD can help reduce psychotic symptoms. According to the research, when suspected psychosis patients are given a single 600 mg oral dose of the compound cannabidiol (CBD), their symptoms become less severe.

A groundbreaking study by a team at Harvard University has found that an active ingredient in cannabis, tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), was able to cut tumor growth in common lung cancer in half and significantly reduce the ability of the cancer to spread.

A study conducted by Leiden University Medical Centre (LUMC) and Berocan International in the Netherlands found that standardized high-THC cannabis was effective in treating musculoskeletal pain caused by fibromyalgia.

A study reported at the 3rd Congress of the European Academy of Neurology released its results that the active compounds in cannabis were better at stifling migraine pain than prescription pharmaceuticals.

Senior neurology researcher Dr. Laszlo Mechtler said a 1:1 THC-to-CBD ratio was the most effective at treating symptoms of chronic illness and diminishing undesirable effects for seniors involved in the study.

Researchers at the British Columbia Centre for Substances Use found that those with PTSD who were using medical marijuana were 60-65 percent less likely to have major depressive episode or thoughts of suicide compared with those not using medical marijuana.

A study out of McMaster University that performed a systematic review of 17 randomized clinical trials involving 3,161 patients found that though medical cannabis is safe to use, its role in the treatment of multiple sclerosis (MS) symptoms is not well-defined.

A study out of Johns Hopkins Medicine has shown that, compared to smoking, vaping cannabis increases the effects of marijuana on new or infrequent users, highlighting the importance of proper dosing for medical patients.

With the rapid growth of medical cannabis sweeping across the world, patients are getting more power in how they choose to be treated. Industry leaders, seeing the need for alternatives to the age-old ways of ingestion (smoking, edibles, etc.), have innovated to provide better patient experiences. Among these innovations comes the vaporizer, which every medical cannabis patient should consider as one of their first options.

The recently developed Cannabis Research Initiative at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is determined to test marijuana’s effectiveness to treating pain. Led by Dr. Jeffrey Chen, they intend to gather in-depth research on cannabis, its effects on pain, and its potential as an alternative to opioids.

The University of British Columbia is moving forward on its goal of filling the cannabis research gap, and has created a new professorship to study the possibility of using medical marijuana in treating opioid addictions.

In the past few decades, medical institutions have begun to use cannabis as a form of treatment because of its multifarious therapeutic effects. Researchers have conducted years of studies in order to better understand the plant and its effects. Positive results have allowed the integration of cannabis into medical facilities and also helped propel global legalization efforts.

Glaucoma is a serious issue for patients around the world that is the leading cause of irreversible blindness. Most often caused by elevated intraocular pressure, it damages the optic nerve and stops the brain and the eye from communicating the information vital to sight.

As medical marijuana continues to attract daily headlines, a certain by product of the plant is beginning to get its well-deserved attention. Cannabidiol (pronounced canna-bid-eye-ol) better known as “CBD” is the compound found in the cannabis plant that is showing the most signs for medical treatment. A cousin of the compound Tetrahydrocannabinol (or THC), the compound found in marijuana that gives users the “high” feeling, CBD provides the benefits to patients without the buzz.

A joint venture between 20 researchers across 13 institutions in the United States, Australia, and the United Kingdom has found that marijuana use did not affect the volumes of gray matter in the participants brains.